


Royal Affairs

by qya9feline



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, M/M, Mutual Pining, prince!Haru
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-21
Updated: 2017-06-21
Packaged: 2018-11-17 00:06:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11263854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/qya9feline/pseuds/qya9feline
Summary: Someone teach me the art of titling things, and also how to write an effective summary





	Royal Affairs

**Author's Note:**

> Someone teach me the art of titling things, and also how to write an effective summary

Haru had never thought of himself as a schemer before.

Not that he never had a sense of deviousness in him no, but he preferred not to make his brain work extra hard than it had to. His craftiness was reserved to when he wanted to get away from certain responsibilities(but he couldn’t do that as often as he liked), or when he wanted to be left alone(his friends are way too loud and clingy). He liked going with the flow, let the tides take him where he had to be. He wouldn’t resist the flow of time just as he wouldn’t resist the flow of water.

But there are certain things he wants that require action, or the status quo would never change. And God does he _want_.

Being a prince meant that every need and want of his would be fulfilled, everyone else would see to it. And he’s never really desired many things anyway, in fact he only has a few. He wanted to just _be_ in the water, always, all the time, but if he spent even a second more than an hour(he'd had to make a compromise with his parents on it) in his bath or in the river that flowed at the back of the palace, he’d get reprimanded by his attendant for it, or worse, by his parents, who’d never let him hear the end of it. But then again, his princely duties, trainings which entailed regular court attendances, and meetings with nobilities, and foreign dignitaries and whatnot would take his time away from his most favorite thing in the world.

Apart from that, he wanted peace, not that it was mutually exclusive from being in the water. He mostly found peace in the water, he also found peace when his teachers and his personal attendant let him off easy sometimes with trainings and the like. Or when he could manage to avoid interactions with loud, obnoxious nobles he called friends when he wasn’t particularly in the mood for socializing. Or when he could beat another loud, obnoxious royal friend of his in his favorite hobby, swimming.

He’s heard how selfish and demanding other people of nobility could be, how they would make impossible requests and became livid about the littlest things. His only demand ever has been that he be served mackerel in his every meal.

But none of these has ever come close to the feeling of want that’s consuming him at the moment. And more than that, he’s never wanted a _person_ before.  
Said person is right in front of him, his broad back turned towards him, humming a song Haru doesn’t know, all while tending to the flowers in the garden. He can see that the boy’s in a good mood and is most likely smiling, and that brings a smile to his lips as well.

From the place he is sitting, he can see the sunlight making the boy’s brown hair look golden, and he longs to touch it, see if his hair is as soft as it looks. But he also doesn’t want to disturb the sight, maybe it’s a trick of the light, or the way the light’s shining off his hair, but he can make out a halo forming around the boy’s head.

He savors these moments, this state of peaceful contentment as he watches the boy carry on his mundane task. He feels thankful towards both his attendant and his gardener for letting them have this, his attendant giving him a rare break and the birth of the gardener’s baby causing his absence. He’d like to have the boy here, in his garden like this, forever and doesn’t mind giving his gardener a long paid vacation just so he can have more moments like this.

He’s lost in his reverie when the boy turns his head and looks at him, “Haru?”, he puts down the hose he was watering the plants with and steps closer towards him, “You’re dozing off. You should go inside.” Haru can read a pinch of concern in his voice, “You shouldn’t stay out in the sun too long.”

 _“You’ve been staying out in the sun longer than I have.”_ , he wants to say, because this boy with eyes the color of grass and leaves like the ones he was surrounded by just a while ago, is worried about him even though Haru’s been lounging in his chair doing nothing while he’s the one who’d been working and sweating under the sun. 

“I’m fine Makoto”, he instead says, he knows that he can’t stop him from worrying too much, but he can put them to rest, "Are you finished?”, he asks.

“Yeah, Mr. Sasabe didn’t leave a lot for me to do”, he chuckles, “I only had to water the plants and trim some of the bushes a little. Let’s head inside then.” he says looking at Haru for his response. Haru gives him a nod. 

They’re walking along the hallway when Haru asks, “Do you have anything to do after this?”

“Hmm, not really. I was thinking of going to the library to pick up some story books for Ran and Ren, but I can do it later. Did you need me for anything Haru?”, he asks.  
He looks at Makoto, whose eyebrows are raised in a question, then looks away, “I was thinking of continuing. What we were doing yesterday.”

“Oh” he says, “We could do that”, he says turning away too. Haru turns to look at him and he sees Makoto's cheeks turn pink.

 

“Um, do you want me in the same position as yesterday?” Makoto asks, his cheeks still visibly pink.

“Yes.”

“This is kind of embarrassing.” He says, his cheeks getting redder in color.

“It’s alright Makoto, it’s just me.” Haru says hoping that it will calm Makoto down. 

Makoto looks up at him and takes a deep breath. “Alright Haru”, he says and gives a small smile, “You can start now.”

Makoto reclines on his side on the divan, facing Haru, the divan is placed right next to the window so the light pouring in through the window provides a nice backdrop. Haru looks over at Makoto while mixing the colors and gives him a nod. Makoto takes the cue and stops moving. Haru occasionally looks over at him and then back at the painting, the only movements in the room being the rhythmic rise and fall of their chests while breathing and the sound of the brush against the canvas.

 

He’d been surprised when Haru had asked him to model for him about three days ago, well not exactly in those words.

 _“I want to paint you.”_ he’d said.

The thought of it alone was embarrassing, he knew what it entailed, he’d be under Haru’s gaze for long periods of time. His heart wouldn’t be able to take it.  
Makoto wasn’t oblivious to his own feelings. He was well aware of the fact that the way he felt towards his childhood friend, the person he was finally able to reunite with after so long, was different from what he felt towards his other friends. He’d been catching himself constantly thinking about Haru ever since he came back to Iwatobi and his heart yearned to be closer to him, to have him by his side all the time, to see him smile, to see his eyes sparkle when he was happy, like when he saw water or when the mackerel he ate was particularly to his liking. Makoto found everything of Haru’s endearing.

Makoto had also realized his feelings long enough for him to come in terms with the fact that they could never be together, not like he wanted them to be. He didn’t know how Haru felt about him, but even if Haru did return his feelings, there’d be the fact that Haru was the crown prince of Iwatobi, the future heir, and Makoto, while being the former ambassador’s son, still held a position much lower than that of royalty, not to mention he was a man.

He looks over at Haru, who’s still painting him, catches him looking over at him and again back at the painting, and Makoto wishes that he could stay like this forever. It's flattering to have Haru's attention to himself and he basks in the happiness. He’s also glad that Haru didn’t ask him to model in the nude or he would’ve died of embarrassment.

 

Haru knows this is a sly move. He’d be getting to paint Makoto, hence ensuring a physical copy of Makoto’s image he could look at when Makoto wasn’t there, not that he needed to as he can now remember every dip and curve on Makoto’s body, the shape of his nose and lips, the way his hair falls over his face when he’s lying down, as well as the exact shade of green of his eyes and now can effectively paint him from memory alone. He doesn’t tell that to Makoto however, as that would mean that he would have no reason to stay anymore. And Haru’s doing this to spend more time with Makoto anyway, that’s always been the main objective of everything in the first place.

He also feels like while what he did was a smart move, it’s still not a surefire way to get Makoto to notice his feelings, let alone like him back. He knows his feelings for Makoto have far crossed the boundary of like into the uncertain world of a much intense emotion but it wouldn’t be appropriate to expect the same out of Makoto right away. He thinks of confessing directly but the fear of losing him as a friend too is a very dangerous risk to take. So he wills himself to stick to subtlety for now, to slowly win Makoto’s heart, to not scare him away by being aggressive and ruining their relationship altogether.

Plus he’s running out of ideas.

Hell, he doesn’t know what he’s doing at all, or what he should do to get Makoto to like him back. He’s very new to this whole romance thing and he has no idea whatsoever on how to proceed.

He’ll have to ask for help.  
He just hopes he won't regret it later.


End file.
